1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drug information acquisition device and method, and more particularly, to a technique for acquiring information, such as the type and number of drugs to be packaged, immediately before a packaging apparatus automatically packages each dose of a plurality of types of drugs.
2. Description of the Related Art
A system has been proposed which inserts each dose of drugs (pills) to a transparent packet, captures the image of the drugs from the upper side of the packet, and performs an image recognition process for the captured image to calculate the number of drugs in the packet (JP1995-200770A (JP-H07-200770A)).
This system can capture the image of the drugs inserted to the packet and process the captured image to calculate the number of drugs. However, in the determination of the type of drug, it is difficult to remove the overlap between the drugs in the packet or to solve problems caused by the orientation (lateral direction) of the drugs. In addition, in some cases, characters are printed on the packet or light is randomly reflected from the packet. For these reasons, it is difficult to technically achieve the system.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a drug dispensing device has been proposed which places drugs to be dispensed on a drug inspection table, vibrates the drug inspection table in the horizontal direction to remove the overlap between the drugs, captures the image of the drugs on the drug inspection table while vibrating the drug inspection table, and performs an image recognition process to calculate the number of drugs on the basis of the captured image, immediately before automatically dispensing each dose of drugs (JP2011-104077A). In addition, a plurality of grooves which are partitioned by convex portions extending in a vibration direction are formed in the bottom of the drug inspection table described in JP2011-104077A and the drugs are guided by the grooves and are smoothly dispersed on the drug inspection table.
JP2005-525973A discloses a device which fills a bottle with the same type of drug (pill). This device includes first conveying means which is provided between a hopper storing a large number of drugs and a bottle, includes a plurality of inclined vibration plates arranged in a line, and vibrates each vibration plate to convey the drugs on the vibration plates, second conveying means which is a drum that is provided in an exit portion of the vibration plate and is rotated while drawing the drugs, and a camera which captures the image of the drugs on the drum in order to count the number of drugs. A groove is formed in the bottom of each vibration plate in the conveyance direction. Therefore, it is possible to convey the drugs in a line along the groove. In addition, JP2005-525973A discloses a structure in which the groove formed in the bottom of the vibration plate and a plurality of grooves formed in a circumferential surface of the drum have a triangular shape (V-shape).